


Reconciliation

by tiffthom



Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, Depression, F/M, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 16:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11535933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiffthom/pseuds/tiffthom
Summary: The dust from battle cleared years ago, but the calm of peace is messier. She's married and he's terribly taking it one day at a time trying to reconcile then with now.





	Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written Ishihime before but I was prompted on Tumblr with: 'I can’t keep kissing strangers pretending that they’re you', and this came to me fluidly with very little poking and prodding of my soul and imagination and I am quite pleased with it. I hope you are too.

Ishida Uryū lives fast enough to evade memories of a war that still doesn’t feel won and the sting of broken bonds.

Getting anything from his father always came with a hefty price tag so their reconciliation must have included some cryptic clause that said he’d have to lose everything else.

He feels ungrateful when he thinks this way. His career is agonizingly promising. The needle couldn’t stand to be put down so he still designs his own clothes as well, and the impeccable fit of his silk-lined button downs over lean sinew that no longer engages in battle is noticed by nothing but beautiful women.

Every once in a while, he draws back an arrow just to make sure he still has it, and he does. He can freehand the extraction of foreign objects threatening his patients’ vital points and he can probably do it blindfolded.

But he can’t embrace her.

Out of all the things people have heralded him for, all of his cautious hopefulness meant nothing in the end, and he wonders if he was blindfolded during their time together as they fought hollows and championed justice so the world would keep turning.

He shakes his head, knowing that isn’t true. His eyes were wide open but he hoped anyway. She loved Ichigo but it was the same way a child believes they can touch a star. Uryū didn’t discount the authenticity of her affection. He just knew where Ichigo’s head was and it wasn’t his place to make her accept it so he just gently latched onto hope, waiting for the opportunity to come when things calmed down, when he felt brave enough, when she wanted to let go and see where life would take them.

Time ran out and it still stings knowing Ryūken was right.

_“You must strike while the iron is hot, Uryū.”_

But everything had burned up.

She’s married now and he racks up one night stands left and right.

_“There’s no use worrying about what cannot be.”_

Ryūken is never speaking of Inoue- _san_. No, that isn’t right. She’s Kurosaki- _san_  now. But even still, when his father doles out old advice, all of it sounds like it’s about her.

Uryū retires to his loft after work and the smooth luxury of  _Hibiki 21_  welcomes him. The long sips he swallows back make his Adam’s apple bob, and his phone glows from a text message.

_“Game night is still on. Please come. We haven’t seen you in so long.”_

It feels like another piece of him chips away. She never had to ask him for anything more than once back then, but this is now, and he ignores her invitation for the third time. He downs the liquor and sinks into the couch. The phone glows again.

_“Hey, can I come over?”_

The number isn’t saved and he ignores it too.

There’s bitter irony in all the times he criticized Ichigo for his shitty coping mechanisms.

* * *

Orihime can’t remember the last time she saw Uryū properly. Quick ‘ _hellos’_  and ‘ _gotta runs’_  when she takes Kazui to Karakura General don’t count.

She wants to reject knowing that he’s chosen to stay away because the loneliness is overpowering and the guilt crushes her. It is unfair to feel lonely when she’s married, but she and Ichigo struggle to relate. He doesn’t care about the kinds of stitches she practices, and Shakespeare puts her to sleep.

_“I guess we’re both weirdos…”_

There are times she wants to go back and tell herself to pay more attention, but then, Kazui gives her butterfly kisses and this is really what she wanted, isn’t it? It’s only when her heart overflows with love for her child that the loneliness subsides. Tatsuki says she shouldn’t feel guilty.

_“Sometimes I – I think about all of the other things I wanted too.”_

After she admitted it, she cried so much it was hard to breathe and Tatsuki didn’t say anything else.

It’s been almost thirty minutes and Uryū hasn’t responded. Game night is not for another few hours so she rides a couple of trains until she reaches the other side of town.

“Yes.” He answers the phone a little irked by his disrupted rest.

_“Ishida, I texted you. You always do this.”_

“I was sleeping.”

_“Well, I want to come over.”_

“No. I’m exhausted.”

_“Fine.”_

The call disconnects and he chucks the phone to the other side of the couch only for the doorbell to ring next. It’s Orihime choking the strap of her purse. Uryū swears he’s been kicked in the teeth.

God, she’s beautiful dressed in a cream turtleneck and a pastel floral skirt that stops just below her knees. Her hair is swept to the side and a few loose strands escape her ponytail.

“Kurosaki- _san_?” He says it like it isn’t really her.

“Sorry to barge in on you like this, Ishida- _kun_. Uh… may I come in?”

He steps aside quickly and opens the door completely for her. She walks in, tobacco-colored high heel boots clicking against the glazed concrete floors. She has never been over. None of them have except Chad when he’s in town and wants to lay low.

“Wow, Ishida- _kun_ , your place is really beautiful! It’s so you!”

She’s beaming and his heart could stop at any moment. He no longer feels tired. Her smile is life-giving.

“Could I get you something to drink?”

He heads to the kitchen but her question is faster than his feet.

“Ishida- _kun_ , please tell me why you’ve been avoiding us? Is everything alright?”

The rest of the air leaves the room and his hand pauses on the handle of the refrigerator door.

“After so many hours at work each day, I hardly have time for anything.”

He doesn’t turn around when he answers her, and Orihime is grateful that he’s at least, not lying to her face.

“It’s been four years, Ishida- _kun_. You’ve been too busy for four years?”

Nevertheless, she’s angry, and hurt more than that.

“I can’t stay stuck like you did so I’ve moved on. This isn’t high school anymore, Inoue- _san_.”

She hears the truth. It rings loud and clear when he slips and calls her by her maiden name. Orihime drops her purse to catch the tears that start welling in her eyes.

“Are you upset because I –”

She loses the rest of the words for a moment and he wants to console her, but even more, he wants to finally just say it.

“Are you upset because I married Ichigo?”

Uryū’s smile is dry. He’s never been upset about it because he’s never desired happiness and peace for two people more, but he feels empty, and trying to reconcile these two things hasn’t worked.

“I’m upset because I can’t keep kissing strangers pretending that they’re you. Eventually I need to accept what has happened.”

The confession possesses her to move and she goes to him, reaching for him but he declines her touch.

“Please, Kurosaki- _san_. Please go.”

Her scent lingers when she leaves, and Uryū disappears into the darkness of the hallway and into his bedroom and he closes the door behind him.


End file.
